Helped Along the Way
by wheatthins16
Summary: What if Harry had been sorted into Slytherin, how will he handle the challenges set before him and how will being in a different house change the way he interacts with the world
1. Chapter 1

As he sat at the end of the table he thought of all that had led him to this point. It had been a long first three years in the magical world. Perhaps the only thing he could thank the Dursleys for is that they had at least helped to prepare him for it.

It had all started when the sorting hat decided to help him on his way to greatness.

 _Hmm, not Slytherin eh? Well then I guess you'll have to thank me later._

 _SLYTHERIN_

The first month or so hadn't been that bad really. Sure, he'd made no friends and the upper years seemed wary of him, as he learned later because most of them thought he was going to be the next dark lord. That however wouldn't last. It had started with little things disappearing from his trunk, then moved on to his school work being tampered with, then they had begun coming for him while he slept.

It was never anything Harry could prove, much like how things had been with Dudley. The items taken never reappeared with anyone else, his essays would look like he had spilled ink on them, and what they did while he was asleep, well safe to say Snape didn't care.

He had learned though. Warding wasn't something taught at Hogwarts other than the very basics in Charms class toward the end of one's 7th year. Given that it was a subject that required both runes and charms work he didn't know why warding wasn't taught other than it seemed most families didn't like telling everyone how they were protecting their homes, imagine that. The library however contained many books on more common and even some more ancient wards. Harry enjoyed some of the Norse wards used to protect Viking kings' burial hordes. The punishments those wards extolled were discreet but damaging. After several fourth years, had ended up in the hospital wing for a week Harry no longer had to worry about any of his stuff.

The added benefit for him was that the more advanced reading he had done on wards and ward theory made his charms class easy. Making a feather float became child's play when you had to build series of interwoven spells interlocked with runes. While he didn't always understand everything, he was reading, the books came with step by step guides, and trial and error was as good a teacher as he could find.

This had also led Harry to read ahead in several of his other subjects. Potions was one he had been doing so in after Snape's humiliation in his first class. Harry was sure that no one else was expected to know the entirety of their potions text prior to any lessons. Though that too had lead him to a rather interesting read titled _Ingredient Interactions for Idiots_ by Preston Prince. Harry was of the opinion the man was rather full of himself, but his instructions had worked out spectacularly. With the added benefit of infuriating his professor along the way.

Harry's reading ahead in several of his other classes hadn't led to much. While Charms never required that much in the way of power, but rather in the subtlety of application and understanding, meaning one could conceivably work ahead, subjects like Herbology, Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts didn't work in the same way.

Herbology as far as Harry could tell was something he had to wait on simply for larger more dangerous plants to be introduced. So far it was nothing more than learning the basics of gardening, with magic. Honestly knowing which plants grow best in dragon fertilizer and which only sprouted in Unicorn dung wasn't something challenging or all that interesting. Combine that with the copious amounts of yard work his aunt had, had him doing since he was five and he was utterly bored in said class.

Transfiguration on the other hand still required too much power for Harry to excel at. He learned that the magic of a person would need to grow sufficiently to complete the more taxing magic required. While it wasn't as though the power needed was all that significant if one could properly form the image in their mind of what they wanted to accomplish, doing so at scale and with reliable accuracy required more magic. From the same book, he learned that around fourteen magical people hit what could be called magical puberty. During this time the way they interacted with magic would become easier and the amount which they could control safely would become greater. So, while he could read ahead and learn the theory there was nothing to be done for performing the spells.

Defense was much the same. There wasn't anything to be learned ahead of time. The fact that each year seemed to be broken down into separate curriculums didn't help much either. While first year consisted of learning theory about hexes, curses and their counters, second and third year was all about dark creatures. Then fourth year pivoted again into purely the study of how to recognize dark magic. In the end Harry decided his efforts would be better placed elsewhere.

Another benefit to having been sorted into Slytherin other than pushing himself ahead had been the acquiring of strategic allies. He could hardly call them friends as most of them were only civil but the relationships were beneficial. Even if these allies were acquired from the other houses as no one in his own house seemed to want to acknowledge his existence.

He decided on Neville Longbottom after the second Herbology class. While the boy had been absolute rubbish at every other subject watching him in Herbology was to watch a master at work. The best for Harry was that the boy was more than willing to do all the work for him, essentially giving him a free period. Draco had provided him with the perfect way in. Stealing of the boy's Remembrall after his disaster at their first flying lesson had allowed him a way to bridge the gap between their Houses. Not to mention the fact that Flint had told him under no circumstances was he to miss the House Quidditch tryouts next year as he as to become the new Seeker. Something Malfoy had complained about loudly in the common room for a month.

Along with Neville came two witches from Hufflepuff, Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones. While the Abbott girl was of little political significance other than her father worked in enchanting, and was quite well off, Susan Bones was the heiress to the noble house of Bones. She also let slip in their first meeting that her Aunt was the head of the DMLE, something Harry filed away under for later use.

His next ally came from Gryffindor House. Hermione Granger had been trapped in a bathroom with a troll. Harry found himself lucky enough to there only because he had been avoiding the Halloween feast. He never did enjoy Halloween, while he understood its magical significance he wasn't a fan of his parent's death. While the rest of the magical world celebrated the closeness of the spirit world, it only served as a reminder of how far away his parents were. In any case Harry found levitating a troll's club to be only slightly more difficult than levitating a feather, canceling the charm let gravity do the rest.

By the first week in November Harry had begun to piece together a group that met infrequently but enough for Harry to begin to call them more than just classmates. The group rarely met all at once, and often other students from the houses not represented by a snake would join them in the library.

While Neville wasn't any help outside of anything Herbology related Harry was confident that Neville was going to be a steadfast ally. The fact that Harry also found the boy to have a pureblood lineage dating back generations also meant he wouldn't have to deal with certain members of his house disapproving of the friendship.

Befriending the Granger girl however, was one he had to defend against even though having Hermione around was like having his own personal librarian. Her muggle-born status was the comment of many of his housemates whenever he was in earshot. While he was put off by her nosiness and propensity to nag, her ability to find books and relay him knowledge was unparalleled. This allowed him to continue reading ahead in the subjects he wanted to, without falling behind in those that couldn't hold his interest.

While Harry had never considered himself studious his early troubles in Slytherin taught him that knowledge was power. Especially when that knowledge is of magic. Thus, he decided that he would learn all that he could to gain that power.

First year wrapped up rather eventfully as the Defense professor disappeared towards the end of term, rumors stated that he died at the hands of whatever it was that lay beyond the Cerberus on the third floor. Harry's personal favorite was one being spread by the redhead twins from Gryffindor. That the professor had gone to feed the Cerberus, and his turban always smelling of garlic had enticed the beast to eat him instead.

Second year had been far more interesting as far as Harry was concerned. He became the Seeker for the House for all of three practices until Draco's father had bought the entire team brooms. Flint had politely told him that while he was a better flyer and had more skill at Seeking the team was better off with all new brooms than they were with a better seeker. Harry thoroughly enjoyed watching them get trounced by Gryffindor in the first match.

Harry also made his first inroads within Slytherin as far as friends was concerned. The second week of term had seen Daphne, Tracey and Blaise approach him with an offer for a mutually beneficial relationship for all parties concerned. They would help him navigate the politics of the House, to which Harry found himself completely ignorant, as well as teach him about the ways of the wizarding world. All he had to do was to quote Blaise show them,

"How you make every class look so bloody easy!"

Harry's group of allies grew, and so did his knowledge of the world he was entering. He learned that there were different factions within Slytherin; the conservatives, the blood purists and the traditionalists. While the wizarding world also had a group of progressives he was informed that none of them were in Slytherin and tended to end up in Gryffindor and Hufflepuff mostly.

The conservatives were a group whose goals were rather unclear in that all they wanted was less interference from the Ministry but who consistently made political moves that were in opposition to that. The main point he got from Daphne's lesson on the matter was that they constantly preached about how much better things used to be, without ever specifying what was better or when exactly they meant. Despite this they were the largest political group in magical Britain.

The Blood Purists were easy as far as Harry was concerned. Their goals were easy and spotting them was easy as well. They looked down upon all muggle-born and half-blood witches and wizards. They didn't think any of them deserved to be taught magic and that magical learning should be exclusive to those of pureblood. That group made up most of Slytherin, with Draco's father heading the entirety of the faction at the moment.

The last group is the one that the three Slytherins claimed to belong to. The Traditionalists they said didn't care if you had magical ancestry or not. All they wanted was to be allowed to practice the old ways. Magics pertaining to rituals, sacrifices and blood were all outlawed because they were dark in nature per the current ministry. Harry was told this was wrong, that they weren't in fact dark, only extremely dangerous if performed incorrectly.

All in all, he felt like he was making great strides both in the classroom and now in his common room. By the middle of October Harry felt far enough ahead in all of his subjects to begin researching ritual magics. He quickly discovered that most of the rituals found in the library were not only extremely easy to do but were in fact commonly performed not that long ago. As such he decided on a ritual to increase his sensitivity to magic, which if he completed it before hitting his magical puberty would only increase the expected gains in magical strength.

Harry also made plans for a few other rituals, ones not necessary but still on his to do list. They included ones to fix his eyes, help him grow stronger, and even one to sharpen his mind. But given that they all required more magical input on his end, as well as some basic runes he knew he would have to wait a while to get to them. Unlike the warding books he had found the year previous these books required you knew which runes were which, and how to use them properly.

So, on Halloween night Harry found himself in the forest executing the magical sensitivity ritual. He was quite glad he discovered rituals in time to do it on this date as it was one the most magically potent. The results had been incredible. It was like having your eyes opened for the first time. He felt the magic now not only of the castle, but the forbidden forest and the even individual people.

His year then took quite the turn as the monster of Slytherin was set loose on the castle. And while it never killed anyone it petrified many students. This had led to wild speculations as to what exactly the Heir of Slytherin was doing to petrify the students in a manner so difficult to fix.

The general consensus around Slytherin house was that whoever the Heir was they were doing the right thing. Something Harry found more than slightly disturbing. How anyone could find what was going on as something to be applauded he couldn't begin to understand.

That all changed rather abruptly when Harry revealed his ability to speak parseltongue. How was he to know it was an almost unheard of gift outside of the Slytherin line. That slip up had changed the way he was treated in his house. Where before he had been largely ignored by everyone now he was purposely given a wide berth wherever he went and most of the house treated him with the same fear the other three houses did.

Dealing with the entier school thinking he was the Heir of Slytherin had for a rather trying rest of the year. Lockhart the defence professor had loudly proclaimed one class that should Harry attempt to attack him he would be dealt with handily. And the Weasley in his year, Ron, had taken to following him around the castle outside of class while refusing to leave him alone with his allies from Gryffindor. It was most irritating.

Harry began doing research into the mythical chamber of secrets on his own time. He surprisingly found that the chamber had been opened only 50 years previously, and that there was a ghost of a girl who had died still inside the castle. Really Harry wondered why no one thought to ask her if she knew anything.

That was until he had tried to talk with the ghost girl. As soon as he brought up the subject she had taken to wailing uncontrollably and promptly flooded the entirety of the second-floor bathroom which she occupied. Still the trip hadn't been a total waste as it gave him a starting point from which to search for the Chamber.

It had taken him the rest of the year but he found the entrance when he followed a red-headed first year Gryffindor girl glassy-eyed and muttering in parseltongue. He stunned her as soon as she had opened the Chamber and lifted a book off of her that had a feel of utter wrongness about it. The book was promptly stored and locked away in his trunk for research at a later date, and the Chamber sealed with the hope no one else would find it.

Thankfully his third year had been far less eventful for him. Harry had spent his summer progressing his knowledge far beyond his third-year material. Class's that weren't his new electives, rune and arithmancy, were now just a formality. The only bit of interest had been the dementors stationed at the school to protect the students from the escaped Sirius Black. Who had broken into the school and attempted to stab Ron Weasley in the Gryffindor dorm before fleeing. Which Harry had found most intriguing considering the madman was supposedly out to kill him.

But none of that mattered now as Dumbledore was looking at him pointedly. A fourth champion for the Triwizards Tournament was just ridiculous. There had to have been some mistake. His best guess was that this was a rather well played prank by the Weasley twins, who were notorious for pranking Slytherin house.

The longer Dumbledore stared at him the more resigned to his fate he became. If this was a prank Dumbledore seemed to think it was serious. So he stood quietly and walked to that antechamber that held the other three champions amid the whispers of the rest of the people in the Great Hall.


	2. Chapter 2

Upon opening the door Harry sized up his competition. There was Cedric Diggory, known for his charms and transfiguration prowess, being an excellent seeker and captain of the Hufflepuff quidditch team and most of all for being a great guy. Next there was the French champion, by all accounts God's gift to men, so long as those men were hoping to make fools of themselves. Aside from being Veela, Harry only knew that the name Delacour was one of importance in the French ministry. Blaise had mentioned it once after staring at her across the library for five minutes, her father was involved as a head of some department over there. Lastly Harry's eyes found Viktor Krum, Bulgarian seeker, quidditch and flying savant other than that he knew nothing about the boy.

Think about all of them Harry knew he was most definitely out matched as far as magic was concerned. While not known as overly powerful Diggory was rumored to have gotten the highest OWL results in transfiguration in the last decade at Hogwarts. Delacour, while quite something to look at, was likely to be extremely talented, it was an ill-kept and uncouth secret in Britain, but those of magical creature ancestry who could wield wizards magic were often powerful. Harry knew most signaled Hagrid as opposition to this, but he chalked that up to the half-giant never getting beyond his third year of education, despite living at the school for 50 plus years. However, given Hagrid could perform basic spells with a wand which had been snapped spoke to the power the man truly possessed. Finally, Krum was sure to be not only a superior Seeker but a wizard as well. Durmstrang was known for producing some of the most talented curse breakers, warders, duelists and creature-hunters in the magical world. So, the fact that Durmstrang's headmaster had treated him as the school's champion from the moment they set foot in Hogwarts was testament to what caliber of wizard he was.

Before the door could fully close behind him it burst open as Ludo Bagman proclaimed,

"Simply outstanding! A fourth champion!"

Behind him came Bartemius Crouch and a stream of other teachers; Snape, Mcgonagall, Moody, Headmaster Karkaroff, Madame Maxime of Beauxbatons, and finally a very worried looking Dumbledore.

Dumbledore immediately set eyes on "Harry my boy, did you place your name in the Goblet?"

"No, sir"

"And you didn't ask one of the older students to do it for you?"

Harry looked at him slightly alarmed. There was no way that was all it would have taken to get past the vaunted headmasters age line… "No sir, I did not"

Dumbledore's gaze seemed to pierce his soul as he stared intently into Harry's own eyes. After a few tense seconds for the Potter heir Dumbledore looked away seemingly satisfied.

"Does this mean I have to compete?" Harry asked.

Crouch spoke up from the back of the room, "Unfortunately yes, the rules of the tournament are quite clear. Should your name come forth from the Goblet a binding magical contract is created. Should you choose not to participate you will forfeit your magic."

"But of course 'e is lying!" The Beauxbatons champion contested, "'e is too leetle to compete"

Harry had to concede that she did have a point there. Not only were the other champions likely magically gifted, but they also had three years more experience to his own. He might be an advanced fourth year and in some cases, in his opinion, fifth year student for Hogwarts, but everyone else was likely to be advanced for a seventh-year student. Even Cedric whom Harry knew was only a sixth-year student was most likely beyond the material taught at Hogwarts in at least Transfiguration, and likely Charms as well.

"I must concur Dumbledore," Her head mistress interjected "it is most unfair that 'ogwarts be given two champions"

At this Karkaroff also joined in "Yes Albus, how come we were not told that your school would get extra champion? I would like extra champion for Durmstrang as well"

"Shove off Karkaroff, you know damn well you don't get an extra contestant in this." Moody's gruff voice came from near the door.

"And why should we not?"

"Because Karkaroff, its more than likely Potter's name was put into the goblet using a strong Confundus charm, one well beyond the skill of a fourth-year student."

Harry rather disagreed with his DADA professor, he was sure that had he wanted to he could have confounded the goblet, but to be honest he hadn't thought of it. Not to mention he had no idea how he would get around the age line. His best theory on that was to have simply thrown the paper with your name on it into the goblet from outside the line. However, having watched the Weasley in his year along with the other Gryffindor fourth years try to do just that for an hour without once even coming close, he had given up thinking about it entirely. But apparently, all he had needed to do was ask a student old enough and powerful enough to confound the goblet.

Karkaroff sneered at Moody "and how might you know that?"

Moody gave the man a wry smile back "remember it was once my job to think like a dark wizard, or have you forgotten Igor?"

With the room quickly falling into chaos Dumbledore took command of the room. He had Bagman tell them what they could expect for the first task, something to do with cunning and bravery, and that was all he would say before they were dismissed.

The next few weeks progressed rather how Harry assumed they would. The school and the Daily Profit had decided that he had undoubtedly put his name in the Goblet. For after all who wouldn't want everlasting glory. Even his allies were skeptical of his denials, though perhaps that was his own fault. One did not share their ambition of eclipsing their own fame through merit only to have that ignored.

Harry did however use the time and Hermione to do a little research into previous tournaments in an attempt to get a handle on what was to come.

"It looks like there are normally three main tasks" Hermione read "it seems that the first task is usually one that deals with some sort of Magical creature and will be a test of your magic, bravery and cunning"

"Do they normally tell you what you'll be up against?" Harry asked

"No, it appears they like to try and surprise you"

"Wonderful" Harry smiled ruefully, "with my luck they'll use Gorgons or a Chimera"

"Well I don't think they would use Gorgons, it looks like the last time they did that two of the contestants were turned to stone and the third only managed to survive because he blinded himself. And I would doubt they bring in a Cockatrice, they did that for the tournament in 1792, and it went on a rampage killing all the champions according to Hogwarts a History. That's why they shut down the tournament actually"

"Wonderful. In any case, it looks like I should spend a little time with our resident Gamekeeper, his fascination with creatures and inability to keep a secret ought to clue me into whatever it is I'll have to face"

"That's probably the best place to start" Hermione agreed

"What are the other tasks usually?"

"That's been less than clear. Sometimes there's a puzzle to figure out, a bit like raiding an ancient tomb from the descriptions they use. There have been dueling tournaments, though those seem to have taken place at Durmstrang mostly. Beauxbatons once had an enchanting task where a whole house was full of furniture that attacked you. And... No, they couldn't have done that... that's absolutely barbaric"

Harry had only been half listening to potential tasks as he read through a book on creachers, but now he was interested.

"What is it Hermione?"

"Durmstrang had a muggle hunt for a task. Contestants were put into a maze and the champion to come out with the most muggles, alive or dead was the champion. It says here the Durmstrang champion won by killing 113 muggles and reanimating their corpses to attack the other champions." the look of horror on her face was something that mirrored his own thoughts on the matter. Daphne took that moment to chime in.

"That not surprising really. That's from a tournament in the early 1700's right after the statute of secrecy went into effect. Muggle hating was at an all-time high, most of the students at the schools had probably lost family to witch hunts."

Hermione was looking at Daphne like she had grown two heads, she looked like she was about to say something about equality when Neville stepped in as well.

"Yeah Hermione it's really not all that surprising. I mean muggle hunts were fairly common here in Britain until the late 1800's when they were outlawed. And I think that they're still legal if frowned upon in most of Eastern Europe. The only reason they don't do them openly is because of the ICW."

Tracy also joined in "yeah they don't even allow muggle born students into Durmstrang. And as a half-blood you typically only get in if your magical parent has enough political clout, but even then, they don't exactly welcome you."

It had taken Harry about 5 minutes, a burnt tongue, and a chipped tooth (who knew rock cakes had actual rocks in them) to discover that it would be bloody dragons. That had been all Harry could get out of Hagrid as he had immediately ushered Harry to the door after his slip up, but it was a start. Bloody Dragons.

The next morning, he also received a most curious letter, brought to him by what appeared to be a school owl who had flown into a window several times, judging by the ruffled appearance.

 _Dear Harry,_

 _I write to you in the hopes that this reaches you before it is too late to prepare. Your first task will be against a dragon._

 _P.S._

 _Apologize to the bird for me_

And that was it, no information he hadn't already received from Hagrid. The fact that the letter was unsigned was a bit concerning, if it weren't for the fact he already knew about the dragons he would have thought someone was trying to prank him. In any case, someone thought it important to notify him, who it was Harry hadn't a clue.

Daphne after reading the note over his shoulder had politely informed him that dragons no longer lived in Britain but that was due largely to the fact that it took at least 5 fully grown, well trained wizards to deal with one and had been considered sport to hunt them. A confidence boost it was not.

His own research lead him to the conclusion that a dragon was a finely tuned killing machine. Dragons came with magically resistant hides, well-tuned senses of hearing, sight and smell, not to mention the claws wings and fire breathing. He decided his best course of action may very well be to just ask the Dragon not to make his death too painful. In the end, he decided that since he was in the tournament he would at least try to win, and came up with a strategy that best suited his skills.

The only other thing of note had been the weighing of the wands ceremony. Why it was called that Harry had no idea, they didn't weigh anyone's wand, and what purpose weighing a wand would serve was beyond him. But it was a necessary testing of all the champions wants to be sure they had properly functioning ones.

It did however give him yet another extremely odd experience with Britain's most eccentric wand maker. Ollivander's descriptions of his competitor's wands did give him a little bit of insight to their magics. Fleur Delacour's magic was inflexible and temperamental, if he were to guess Harry thought it best not to anger her, as it was likely any magic she backed with strong emotions was made even stronger. Cedric was described simply as springy which fit what Harry knew about his prowess with charms and transfiguration perfectly. Krum's wand was described as ridged, which to Harry meant power, Viktor Krum was likely not going to be capable of a vast array of magics, but what he could do would be spectacular.

Harry's wand when handed over to Ollivander elicited quite a curious reaction, one Harry had not been expecting at all. He had been prepared for another reminiscing about his wands brother, of expectations of greatness, what he was not prepared for was Ollivander to give him a long and rather inquiring look.

"Interesting Mr. Potter. Very interesting. It would seem that you are no longer well suited to this wand. It is not to say that it will no longer work for you but rather it seems the two of you have grown apart. Most interesting Mr. potter, most interesting indeed."

Harry did not miss the looks he was receiving from the other champions, nor did he miss the look of concern that adorned his headmasters face.

"It is still in perfect working condition Mr. Potter, but should you find the time I would suggest you visit me again soon, I would think in about a month you should be ready" He said with a smile handing Harry back his wand.

With that they were dismissed and Harry was left to his thoughts. There was only one reason why Ollivander would suggest he come in a month, and how he had discerned that was most concerning. The rituals Harry had looked up in his first year had taken meticulous planning, and more than a little patience on his part not to do them early. But as soon as he turned fourteen he had gone out into the backyard at number 4 Privet and done the rituals.

He thought he had done a good job covering his tracks this year, he had purchased fake glasses and had been so careful not to show the benefits of the other rituals. The strengthening ritual was one he had yet to notice much from, while at times he felt stronger physically and his connection to magic seemed deeper, it was nothing spectacular.

As for the ritual, he had performed for his mind, everything had seemed to be going well right up until his scar had exploded. The pain had been like nothing he had ever experienced before. Sure, his scar would prickle every now and again, but this had felt like someone had shoved a hot knife straight through his scar and into his head. The headaches had lasted a week after and his thoughts had been muddied considerably. He would say the entire ritual had been a failure other than since coming back to school learning any spell felt more like remembering it than learning it for the first time.

Harry decided that it would be best to go see Ollivander over the Yule holidays when the school and the tournament went on break.

He spent the rest of his time learning about the weaknesses of dragons and what spells were commonly used by dragon handlers. Harry figured if there was any way to get an advantage it would be to learn from the people who spent the most time around the creatures.


	3. Chapter 3

The day of reckoning had arrived. He was both nervous and excited. This would prove to be his first real challenge since entering the wizarding world. He was about to find out if his self-study had been worth it.

As he made his way to the champions tent he noted that most of the school seemed to have already made it out to the makeshift arena that had been set up on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

He spied Malfoy with the Weasley twins, a most curious sight until Malfoy called out to him

"Oye Potter do me proud! I've got 10 galleons on you dying in the first 5 minutes!" Malfoy flashed him a smile and began laughing as Harry walked past.

He would prove to Malfoy; he would prove to them all that he was worthy. It hadn't been easy getting used to being famous. After years of being called a freak by the Dursley's being famous and the expectations that came along with what he was famous for were challenging. It was in part what had driven him for these last three years. Harry wanted to be known as his own wizard. There was little reason for him to enjoy the fame that came with his parent's murders.

Reaching the tent Harry found he was the last one there.

"Ah at last Harry" Ludo Bagman proclaimed "our extra champion has arrived! Barty would you like to tell them what they'll be doing?"

Bartemius Crouch if Harry remembered correctly, a sour looking man, stepped out from the corner of the tent.

"Today you will be faced with retrieval of an egg. This egg is protected by a dragon. We have procured for you each a different dragon, each of you will enter the arena armed only with your wands. You may exit the arena once you have secured the egg or once the ten-minute time limit has elapsed. Failure to get the egg will make your next task all but impossible as it holds the clue to what you will be doing. I wish you luck" with that he strode out of the tent.

A quick glance at his competitors showed that only Diggory seemed at all perturbed. This meant that the other two champions had also managed to learn what the task was to be. Harry had hoped that he would be the only one to know, it was supposed to give him a slight advantage.

"Now if you would all come here you can select your dragons" Bagman said smiling far too wide for Harry's liking

"Ladies first!" the French champion reached into the bag with a mild look of panic on her face, and pulled out a small animated figurine dragon. The audible sigh and obvious relaxation after having pulled out a Common Welsh Green concerned Harry. What kind of person would be happy about that?

"Mister Krum your next" Viktor reached in and pulled out his dragon, "the Chinese Fireball!" Ludo announced. Harry again noticed that the stoic Bulgarian's face relaxed slightly. It was barely perceptible but it put Harry on edge.

"Cedric ma boy your turn" Diggory reached into the bag and pulled out a Swedish Short Snout. "And that leaves just our extra" Ludo said thrusting the sack in Harry's direction. He reached in and was immediately bitten on the finger pulling out a Hungarian Horntail.

Now he understood why the other champions were happy with their dragons. They must've known. There was no other explanation for it. They knew not only what the task was but which dragons would be used.

Harry was upset with himself. Not only were the other champions as prepared as he, but in fact they were more prepared. And on top of that he had managed to land perhaps the most dangerous dragon there was.

Horntails were often thought of as the most fierce, independent and intelligent of the dragons. They were normally larger than other dragons and were almost entirely solitary animals due to their violent nature. His plan was going to need some revision. Lucky, he would get the opportunity to go last.

Harry's original plan had been to use the dragon's own strengths against it. Dragons had naturally strong senses of smell and sight, attacking these normally would mean enraging the dragon. An enraged dragon may be dangerous, but it would also mean it would be careless. A Horntail on the other hand was a whole other beast. An enraged Horntail was going to be different, it would not make the same mistakes the others would make. Unlike the other dragons Horntails as a species possessed what would be called near human intelligence, in fact there were several dragon rights activists who argued that they shouldn't be kept in the preserves at all.

His new plan was going to have to prey on the fact that the Horntail was likely already enraged by simply being here, and the fact that the dragon handlers had uprooted her clutch for this. Time seemed to move so much slower than normal as each champion went to face their dragons. The allotted 10 minutes per champion had not been reached for any of the other champions, meaning they had all been successful. He had thought Victor was going to fail but the loud cries of the Chinese Fireball followed by cheering had signaled otherwise. He was unsure exactly what it was Victor had done but it was taking them longer to come get him that it had between the other champions. Although, he mused it could simply be that the Horntail is even more irritated at this situation than I thought.

After what seemed an eternity Snape opened the flap to the tent.

"They are ready for you Potter"

"Thank you professor" Harry responded making his way out of the tent and to the stadium they had set up for the event.

"Oh, and Potter. Do try and make your mother proud." Snape said as he passed.

That stopped Harry up. Try and make your mother proud? Had Snape known his mother? If he had this was the first-time Harry could remember the potions master mentioning her name. He was used to the jabs about his father, and the leering over his potions work, it was absolute perfection for him or his potion was vanished. This however was new and would bear some considering later. Shaking off the oddness of the comment, Harry proceeded on to face his dragon.

The arena was blinding. After having sat inside the tent for the better part of an hour the sun was glaring. Shading his eyes Harry quickly scanned the arena for the Horntail, knowing that it likely already knew where he was. His initial search turned up nothing, no dragon. Somewhere in all the rocky ground that covered the arena floor was a hidden dragon.

This worked out well for Harry, minus the fact that he might walk around a corner straight into flames. His plan required that the dragon not be sitting right on top of her eggs. Making his way to the top of the nearest boulder, he found what he was looking for. The nesting mother was hidden just behind the other side of the nest which was in the center. He could see just her nose and one eye. She was clearly looking right at him. Not good.

As soon as he made it all the way to the top of the boulder, leaving himself as exposed as he could be the dragon made her move. Standing far quicker than any beast that size should be able she turned on him with a roar. Harry had expected it to be loud, but this was deafening. The Horntail was not pleased to be here. Harry had just enough time to count how many eggs we in the clutch at the nest, and notice that the 7th egg was golden before dragon fire shot his way.

Leaping off the boulder to safety just in time for the fire to pass over head. The heat was intense; he would have been burned to a crisp. This was concerning, the dragon was easily 30 meters away, and the fire had spanned that without issue. He wasn't going to be able to let the dragon get even remotely close.

Working quickly Harry blasted apart rock, shattering it to pieces. They weren't all quite right, but he was going to have to make due. He quickly transfigured the rocks into egg shapes, he supposed that he could have gone for turning them into actual eggs but there wasn't time.

Peeking out from his hiding place Harry found the Horntail had closed about half the distance and was now just on the other side of her eggs. He also saw fire headed straight for him. The horntail was clearly set on burning him alive. Pulling his head back at the last second he saved himself from his face being melted off. Turning back to his clutch of egg shaped rocks he colored them. The dragon was not going to be fooled by grey rocks.

Risking another look revealed the dragon had not moved any closer. Despite needing to keep his distance he needed the Horntail to move, and in this direction. Snapping his head back just in time once again Harry made a rash decision. Sticking just his wand around the rock he began shooting sparks at the dragon. Harry knew it wasn't very impressive, any pre-Hogwarts student could shoot off sparks. However, knowing that the dragon was magically resistant, he decided to conserve as much or the energy he had.

His gamble worked. A quick peek showed the dragon moving off to the side of her nest, she was trying to flank him. He had succeeded, and now he had to run as his shelter wasn't going to protect him any longer. Dashing from behind rock to rock Harry managed to outrun the dragon while she was trying to get a better angle on him. He hurriedly repeated his fake eggs and new nest that he had just done.

Just in time too as the dragon had spotted him. Harry noticed she hadn't even made it all the way to the nest he had set up. The chain around her neck was going to be a problem. Running behind the rocks again as the dragon moved towards his last hiding spot he decided he was going to have to take a serious risk if his plan was going to succeed.

He repeated his process as fast as he could for a third time all while the dragon bathed his latest shelter in fire. Sneaking another look Harry found the dragon had moved back to her nest. His plan was unravelling. One more fake nest would give him five, he had thought that would be enough to at least confuse the dragon, but so far the Horntail had only tried followed him out to the first nest and even then, he had to provoke her.

Settling on three fake nests as having to be enough Harry decided it was time to do something foolish. A normal person would come up with another plan, but Harry was stubborn. He knew his plan could work but for it to do so he was going to have to set a fully grown nesting Hungarian Horntail loose, all while he was in a confined space with it. Not one of his better ideas to be sure.

The Horntail had again retreated to the far side of her nest away from Harry. It was almost as if she was taunting him, trying to draw him so she could finally deal with the nuisance that he had become. She no longer looked enraged at him, but appeared quietly furious at his presence.

Harry thought about what the best way to go about releasing the Horntail was going to be. He couldn't very well destroy the chain; it was likely imbued with strong magic or else the Horntail herself was liable to break it. He could try and release the collar of the chain but that would be difficult. He would have to hit the collar from a distance and the magic would be headed right at the Horntail's head, it was unlikely she wouldn't move away from that. Spotting the anchor for the chain about 5 meters from the actual nest Harry decided this would be his best option. The best part, he could remain under cover while he blasted away at the rock. It took several strong blasts but Harry eventually broke through the rock deep enough to see that anchor was loose.

His feeling of accomplishment didn't last long. Sending blasts near the Horntail's nest had made her angry again. She had gotten up as soon as the first blast had struck and charged towards him breathing fire. Lucky for Harry, she had reached the end of her tether before he had finished getting the anchor loosened all the way. This meant Harry currently had a nesting Horntail 10 meters away with his full undivided attention. Harry thought that in the entirety of wizarding history the number of wizards to get this close to a nesting Horntail who was awake and live to tell the tail was probably somewhere around 0.

On the other side of the rock the Horntail had quit bathing the stone in fire. She was clearly still seething but she hadn't come any closer. As much of a relief as this was to Harry he had the same problem as he had when he set up his first fake nest. The dragon was going to need to see the nest if she was going to even consider thinking about it as her own nest.

He was going to have to be smart though. Now that the Horntail was free she was liable to keep coming after Harry. He needed a way to hide from her. Doing so inside of an arena divide of any real sensory help was going to be a challenge. Horntails relied on sight, and so far, Harry hadn't been able to peek his head out for longer than a second at a time, or was having to run from rock to rock as quickly as he could just avoid being burned. Harry knew he could perform a disillusionment charm, it wasn't great but it was all he had for an option. This by itself wouldn't hide him though. While Horntails used sight primarily their sense of smell was fantastic. Harry could be completely invisible and it wouldn't matter a whit. He needed a way to take out the dragon's ability to sniff him out.

Glancing up into the stands Harry thought it curious that the Horntail seemed oblivious to the people sitting just 20 meters from him. There were easily 1000 people packed into this makeshift arena, but the Horntail had only even noticed him. The event organizers must have set something up to keep the dragon from noticing them all. It made sense really, you couldn't very well have this challenge run smoothly if the dragons all were concerned with the mass of people surrounding them. Harry knew there was no way to bring down whatever it was Dumbledore had done to prevent this, and it must have been Dumbledore because it would have to be quite powerful to work so well, but there might be a way around it.

Moving quickly, cognizant of the dragon again trying to flank him, Harry used the most powerful wind spell he knew. Directing it out from himself and into the stands, he guided the wind through the spectators and back into the arena. He had to hope this worked, he needed their scents to both mask his own and confuse the dragon for long enough for his plan to succeed.

Harry got lucky. Just as the Horntail got into position to roast him, the scents of 1000 or more people flooded her senses. Whipping her head around in confusion gave Harry just enough time to disillusion himself and make a run to a rock nearer to the actual nest. The Horntail's momentary confusion had let Harry escape again, but it had also helped to disorientate her.

Luck was still on Harry's side as she spotted the fake nest he had set up. She was clearly baffled by seeing two nests. She glanced back and forth between the two, trying to puzzle out exactly what was going on. As she moved back towards Harry and her real nest, he thought for sure his plan had failed and he was about to die. But half way back to her nest she stopped and made for Harry's nest. His heart soared and he quickly made his way towards the center of the arena to retrieve the clue he had been sent in to get.

Harry made what he would later deem a critical mistake at this point. In his excitement of his plan looking like it was going to work he turned his back on the dragon. Later he would constantly wonder why anyone would ever turn their back on a nesting dragon who was less than 30 meters away. But right now, he was far too excited at the prospect of having made it out of the first task alive and unscathed.

The Horntail had made it to the fake nest, and in her confused state, decided the best thing to do to protect her clutch would be to sit atop them until she could figure out just what was going on. There had been one wizard near her nest, that had been irritating. But now the one wizard had vanished and had been replaced with the scent of many. The moment her belly hit the eggs she knew they were wrong. Too cold. Snapping her head back to the other eggs, which must be hers she found the wizard.

Harry in his excitement had let his concentration wander, and had let the disillusionment slip. His only warning was the roar. Turning his head back around just as he was about to reach the nest he saw the fire heading straight for him. Reacting on instinct he threw up his wand and blasted the flames with the same wind spell he had just used. It worked but only just, his robes were burning and his lower legs had been burned quite severely. There was no time to consider how much pain he was in; the dragon was getting ready to incinerate him again.

Harry did the only thing he could and ran. He ran back to the rock he had first hidden behind when the task had started. Something had gone wrong. The dragon had clearly figured out that the other nest was a fake. Had she been toying with him the whole time or had she figured it out at the last second. Harry's mind was rushing through the possibilities and decided that the Horntail must have soused out that they were fakes somehow. There was no way she would allow him to make a move on her eggs just to see what he would do; the question was how had she discovered that they were fake.

Sneaking a peek again Harry saw two things. One the Horntail was enraged, she wanted to kill him no question about it, if he made it out of this alive it would be a miracle. Two the eggs he had just been next too showed no damage from being subjected to their mother's fire. That's when it clicked. His fake eggs were cold, hers were likely to be warm, if not hot. Looking at the fake nest he had next to him, Harry shot off an incendio to heat them up.

The mother dragon was not chasing him anymore. She was standing over her eggs protectively, guarding them from him. If she didn't move he was going to fail this task. Time was probably running out, Harry needed her to charge him again. Stepping out from behind the rock he shot off sparks directly at the Horntail, he also began yelling while he moved back. Thankfully his strategy worked and the Horntail began advancing on him. Ducking behind another rock Harry disillusioned himself again and made for the other fake nest he had created.

The Horntail had made it to the first fake nest Harry had created, but this time she seemed a lot less confused about them. She looked at them only once before blasting them with fire. Harry was glad to see they had managed to remain intact. Having taken his opportunity to warm up the last nest he had set up for the dragon Harry again needed to draw her attention. Sending yet more sparks from his new position did the trick.

Still under the disillusionment charm Harry quickly made his way to the center of the arena. The Horntail had made it halfway to second fake nest before stopping. She was confused again. The three nests had overwhelmed her. But she quickly rounded on Harry was heading back to her first nest. Harry made a gamble, figuring she was coming to protect what she knew to be her eggs he shot sparks off from where he was and quickly dodged the accompanying flames that were sent his way.

His gamble had been on the dragon heading to the place where he hadn't sent magic from, and it worked. The Horntail turned and headed back the first nest he had created near the entrance of the arena. Harry carefully made his way the rest of the way to the nest with the real eggs, making sure to keep an eye on the dragon the entire time. As the Horntail curled around the fake eggs, settling in on them he picked up the golden egg and backed his way out to an exit on the far side.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been a week and Harry was still irritated. He was in last place and was sure the judging for the tournament was pointless. Madame Maxime had given him a 6 while Igor bloody Karkaroff had given him a 4. He heard from Daphne that the judges had all been extremely biased. Maxime and Karkaroff had both given their own champions 10 while giving the other champions clearly unfairly low scores. The other judges weren't much better as Bagman had given everyone at least a 9, while Crouch had been surly and given everyone low scores. Dumbledore had been the only fair judge and he had still given Harry a 7.

While he was irritated with his current placement it wasn't as though he could say he had out performed any of the other champions. Diggory and used a far better solution than he had, Delacour had simply used magic on a level he didn't think he could and Krum had completed the task far quicker than he had.

Diggory had distracted his dragon with transfiguration, which figured as it was his strongest subject. Harry thought this was probably the most elegant way to get by the dragon. He found out that Diggory had transfigured rocks into ever larger animals to entice the dragon away from its nest. His solution was simple and brilliant considering he hadn't had any time to plan. He had also managed to avoid any real risk to himself, all in all not a bad showing from the Hufflepuff.

Delacour had done some enchanting and put the dragon to sleep, which would probably be the most impressive solution if anyone asked him. The sheer power it would take to enchant a dragon was impressive, she would be a challenge to beat to be sure. The deductions she had received were because the dragon had singed her dress after it was asleep. Harry thought it was rather a foolish reason to take away points, it wasn't like she had been in any actual danger at that point.

Krum on the other hand had simply blinded his dragon and gone in and stolen the egg while it was writhing about in pain. But it fit in with what Harry had assumed about him after the weighing of the wands ceremony, he was rigged both with his magic and his strategy. He had simply fired conjunctivitis curses over and over until he had successfully blinded his dragon. The dragon handlers were less than pleased with him. Not only had he blinded the dragon, but she had stomped on some her own eggs in the process.

When he thought about it Harry figured that the thing which was irritating was probably the clue he had gotten itself. He had opened it at the behest of Blaise when he got back to the Slytherin common room, the noise that had come out had nearly gotten him hexed. The wailing that came out of the egg was deafening and was nothing more that pure screeching.

The egg was a challenge for another day, somewhere quiet and alone. Though what he was going to do for solving it he had no idea. There had to be a way to solve it, or maybe the screeching was going to be their only clue, perhaps they were going to face another creature in the next task. The only creature he could think screeched like that were banshees, and what they would be doing with a banshee was beyond him.

A more pressing matter was what to do about the Yule Ball. He needed a date, and he was going to need the right kind of date as Tracy pointed out. This was going to be the first time that he stepped out into the wizarding world in a formal manner, even if it was just a school dance.

He had already started making mental notes on who he would want to take and the list was small. At best, he could count maybe five girls he was on good enough terms with to think about asking to the ball. Daphne and Tracy from Slytherin, Padma Patil from Ravenclaw, Susan Bones from Hufflepuff and then Hermione.

Harry would also have considered Hannah but he was sure that Neville was going to be asking her. That left him to figure out which of these girls was the best for him to take. The problem with Padma was that she and her sister were not of the pureblood aristocracy of Britain. Sure, they could trace their magical ancestry back generations but they still were considered outsiders in the British magical community. As for Hermione, there were a couple problems, firstly she was muggle born not that he cared but it would cause issues. Secondly he was almost positive that Viktor would be asking her, he had been staring at her across the library for the better part of the month since the beginning of the tournament. And lastly he didn't think he would like attending the dance with her, Harry thought that the better part of his evening would be spent listening to Hermione recite mundane and trivial facts about random Yule Balls of the past, something he could do without.

That just left the Slytherin girls and Susan. Susan was from the right sort of family, as Malfoy often said. Her aunt was the current head of the DMLE, and the Bones name had been prominent in British wizarding society since almost as far back as the Roman empire. The problem was that Susan was incredibly shy, Harry had known her since his first year and yet she had spoken to him maybe ten times during the many classes they shared and the innumerable group study sessions they'd had. Come to think of it Harry wasn't entirely sure he had ever had a proper conversation with her at all.

As for the two girls from his own house he wasn't sure either of them would say yes. Tracy was an interesting case as far as Slytherins went. Her father came from one of the older pureblood families, but her mother had been a muggle-born witch just like his own. In fact, if it weren't for Harry's presence in the house of snakes she would probably be the biggest pariah in the house just based on her blood status. Daphne on the other hand would be a perfect date for the Yule ball, her father was a prominent member of the Wizengamot and her family was well respected both within the country and internationally as she had family somewhere in Scandinavia. The only problem was Harry was almost positive she no interest in going to the dance, not just with him but in general. Daphne was a bit of an enigma to him; she rarely spoke to anyone and when she did it was usually something caustic. However, having spent enough time around her Harry knew she was kind, at least to Tracy who was a friend of hers from before Hogwarts.

Harry was currently sitting across from Tracy at breakfast pondering all this, thinking he should just ask her now and get it done with, when Tracy started staring at him.

"Umm Harry your nose...its turning into a beak"

He would never be able to prove it was them, but he had fallen for one of the Weasley twins' pranks. He'd made a habit of checking his food at every meal after having spent the better part of a month being tormented by the two in his second year, but with the tournament and the Yule Ball on his mind he had become lax.

"I'm heading to the Hospital Wing; tell professor Vector I won't be in class"

"Ok, think you'll make it to charms?"

Crossing his eyes looking at the beak now beginning to protrude from his face Harry attempted to say no, but all that came out was a rather loud squawk. Those who had seen Harry's misfortune had mostly been Slytherins, who other than Draco wouldn't laugh at any prank pulled on a member of their own house. The squawk however notified everyone in the hall, to Harry's misfortune.

For a moment, there was stunned silence, then just about the entire student body began laughing at him. Harry would have been furious but at this point he had been pranked enough that was beyond caring about it.

Of note his fellow champions reactions were interesting. Krum, sitting at the far end of the Slytherin table appeared like he could not have cared less about Harry's situation. He and the rest of the Durmstrang students looked unconcerned. Probably something to do with the nature of their schooling, from what he could gather punishments were much stricter at Durmstrang. Per the gossip around the common room teachers at Durmstrang could do whatever they wanted to discipline students, everything short of the unforgivables was supposedly allowed.

Cedric seemed to be trying to get the Hufflepuffs to quit laughing as best he could. He was failing miserably. He met Harry's eyes and seemed to be trying to apologize for the actions of his housemates. It was honorable of him but not a gesture that meant much, it wasn't Cedric who had pranked him.

Delacour on the other hand looked apoplectic when he looked at her. Harry was truthfully taken aback by the amount of anger rolling off her. He was the one who was pranked, not her. What reason could she possibly have for being mad at him? Then it dawned on him, she was Veela. She must have thought he was making fun of her, or that the prank was making fun of her heritage at the very least. She gave him one last hateful glare before making for leaving the great hall with several of her friends in tow. Harry thought he would likely need to explain the situation to her later. It wouldn't be good to have her feel personally insulted, her father was a rather important member of the French ministry.

Madame Pomfrey was quick to fix the beak he had sprouted from the twin's prank. What most impressed Harry about the matron was the fact that in the innumerable times he had visited her she could always sort him out in a matter of minutes. Whatever it was that people had done to him, from the abuses he had suffered early in his first year from his fellow Slytherins to the pranks the twins had taken on pulling on him since early on in his second, she always seemed to know how to fix it.

Sure, he had run into a few she had been unable to fix, the hair bleaching from the twins was one, but he suspected they had used muggle products on him somehow for that. Harry had made use of that prank himself just to make fun of Draco for a week. For the most part however she could take care of it all; jinxes, hexes, and potions were no match for the matron.

The only thing she hadn't gotten to go away completely was a mild amount of squawking.

"Mister Potter, is there a reason that you no longer need to use your glasses?"

This was not a question that Harry was prepared for. It's not that the ritual he had performed was dark per say, just that the only families who would use such magics were considered dark. He knew for a fact that had his father been alive that he would not have been allowed to do it. His father famously wore glasses as a sign of what a "light" family the Potters were. At this point lying was not an option, Madame Pomfrey already likely knew.

"Well you see Madame Pomfrey, I found a book in the library that had a ritual in it to fix eyesight. And the book said that it was easy enough for a person to perform on oneself with very little chance of messing it up"

"Mister Potter, I would suggest you not perform rituals on yourself willy nilly. They are often much more dangerous than the authors would have you believe. Furthermore, the ministry does not look upon rituals with favor, if they were to find out about this…and as for the ritual you've done on yourself, did the author happen to explain what would happen if you had not completed it correctly?"

"Umm no ma'am I don't think that they did"

"Two potential things could have happened to you. One, had you underperformed the ritual you be blind and you would never be able to see again. Or had you put too much magic into the ritual any light at all would cause you excruciating pain, meaning we would have needed to remove your eyes anyways just to save you from the pain"

Harry blanched at that. The author in the book he had gotten the ritual for his eyesight had not mentioned either of those things. In fact, his only warning was 'if performed incorrectly this ritual will be null for one's sight'. He was going to have to go back and look at the other two rituals he had performed and see what their potential side effects were. In fact, he was going to be checking for them in other sources as well just in case.

"Yes, Mr. Potter, I'm glad you understand the severity of what could have happened. Now I would suggest you head to class, and remember to keep checking your foods so you don't have to start seeing me regularly again."

"Yes ma'am" Madam Pomfrey had been the one to teach him some charms in his second year to check his foods for different potions and the like. She had done it after he had made his 12th visit in 9 days. He still had no idea just how the Weasley twins messed with his food in the first place. He had thought of switching spells, or them being disillusioned and dumping it in when he wasn't looking, but neither of those seemed to bit it.

Deciding that he didn't feel like heading to his arithmancy class, they were still working on a problem he had finished last year when he had worked through the fourth-year book. The problem with arithmancy was that they never changed the books. The books that were currently being used were the same ones that Hogwarts had been using for the past 50 years. Not that Harry could blame the class for that, not much had changed in the field over the last century.

That and anything relating to curse breaking and spell creation wasn't covered until NEWTs. Harry had been hoping to start looking at that material over the coming summer, but the tournament had gotten him well behind in his advanced reading. Harry had been favoring his progression in charms and transfiguration as he didn't see much use for anything else for the tournament.

Potions might come up, but was unlikely as advanced potions were brewed over hours and sometimes days, not ideal for people spectating. As for Herbology, there was a chance that he would need to make use of it for a task but he couldn't very well know what plants would show up at any given time.

The only class Harry was regretting having not taken as an elective was creatures as this tournament often featured creatures in just about every task. That and he was sure that his competition all had strong backgrounds in the subject.

Cedric was taking the class at NEWT level at Hogwarts, being taught by a half-giant who was well known for his love of dangerous creatures. He had almost been sent to Azkaban at one point for trying to raise a baby dragon in his hut. So, it was sure that his education was probably better than what had been taught at Hogwarts in the years previous.

Fleur was herself some percentage Veela, or was Veela, the exact way Veela heritage was passed along from generation to generation was unclear. Harry was aware that Veela themselves weren't creatures but demi-human, but magical Brittan's laws had them classified as such. He had attempted to do some research on the matter shortly after being named a champion, but the books in the Hogwarts library on the matter seemed to have all been written by very jealous women. In any case, she was likely far more familiar with the subject than he was.

As for Viktor, creatures are a required course at Durmstrang from their first year. The school wasn't notorious for turning out the best dark creature hunters without good reason. They were famous for making students deal with creatures that were deemed too dangerous for study at schools elsewhere. Harry often heard Draco lament the fact that his mother wouldn't send him to Durmstrang, but from what Harry had become aware of he was lucky he hadn't. The incident with him getting clawed by a hippogriff in last year had been legendary. Harry found out from those who were taking the class that Draco had made the grave error of disrespecting the hippogriff before trying to ride it. Had Draco been at Durmstrang instead, he would likely have had to deal with trolls as a third-year which were far more dangerous than hippogriffs. It was even rumored that Durmstrang had a class where they studied a turned werewolf during the full moon, something that would never happen at Hogwarts, unless of course the werewolf was killed at the end of the lesson. When it had come out at the end of last year that the defense professor Lupin was himself a werewolf, the board of governors had nearly sacked Dumbledore.

Deciding that he was going to have to do some serious studying on creatures to try and shore up his gap in knowledge over the coming weeks, Harry made his way back to the Slytherin common room.

The Slytherin common room was a nice place to be during mid-morning, the sun would be hitting the lake at an angle that would mean his normally dark and dreary room would lit up for a change. Harry couldn't understand why the Slytherin common room was built half way into the lake, it made the dorm rooms cold and miserable during most of the year. That and every class except for potions was at least 4 floors away, and likely on the other side of the castle too.

Making his way into his dorm Harry found the common room to be mostly empty. There were only a few NEWT students studying in one corner and some second years who must have an off period as they were playing a game of exploding snap near the fire. Pulling out the book he would need for Charms and putting away his arithmancy book Harry noticed the clue from the first task.

Figuring that now was as good a time as any to try and figure out what the wailing coming out of the egg was he removed it from his trunk. Being sure to set up a silencing ward on the room to avoid disturbing the rest of the students in the common room he opened the egg.

Harry was again by the wailing that came from his clue. He set it in the middle of the room and went back to his bed, thinking that perhaps if he left it long enough it might make some sense. Half an hour or so passed and nothing became any clearer, except the fact that he was developing a headache. Whatever the clue was he wasn't going to be able to solve it right now.

Getting up from his bed and closing the egg brought the sweet relief of silence. Turning to put the confounding object back in his trunk Harry was startled to see a face in dorm window that was below the lake. Harry's first instinct was to think someone was swimming, but the fact that it was the face of a young child immediately changed that. Seeing that he had been spotted the child darted back into the depths of the lake swimming out of Harry's view.

Harry was surprised, he had no clue that merpeople lived in the Black Lake. For that matter he had no idea that they lived in lakes at all. It brought up so many questions, how did they get to a lake this far inland, how did they have enough space to live in the lake, just how big was the Black Lake, and how did they manage to live in fresh water when they were typically known to live in salt water.

All were good questions but if he didn't leave now he would miss lunch, and after only getting to eat part of his breakfast, Harry found that he was famished.


End file.
